The Apostle Peter understood that we are to become strange fruit. Legend says that he was crucified, literally, upside-down. He in turn calls us all to see the cross as a pattern for our lives.<\/p>\n
\nTo this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. (I Pet. 2.24)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
The cross is not just about what jesus did but what we are to do. That is, we recognize that Jesus, in his death, was showing us how to live.<\/p>\n
The Apostle Paul said, "I resolved to know nothing…except Jesus Christ and him crucified.<\/p>\n
God has a singular desire that he is working in every moment of our lives. <\/span>That we would become strange fruit. <\/span>This is the destiny that that all who love God have to look forward to \u201cFor we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose. <\/span>Those whom God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed into the likeness of his son.\u201d<\/span> <\/span>The good that God is doing in all things is the molding and shaping us into the image of his son. <\/span>God uses every moment of the life devoted to him to see that it conforms us to Christ. <\/span>The goal is that would live and love like Jesus. <\/span>That we would speak as he would speak and listen as he would do so because \u201cwe, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord\u2019s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory\u2026\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n
\n
This idea is developed even further in Ephesians where we are called to \u201cbe imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.\u201d <\/span>Our imitation of God is to extend to loving \u201cjust as Christ love us\u201d on the cross. <\/span>Paul was so compelled by this call of God that he took it on as his deep desire. <\/span>Paul writes, \u201cI want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death.\u201d<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Apostle Peter understood that we are to become strange fruit. Legend says that he was crucified, literally, upside-down. He in turn calls us all to see the cross as a pattern for our lives. To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":79,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-243","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-misc"],"yoast_head":"\n
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Author of Finding the Groove: Composing a Jazz-Shaped Faith (Zondervan) and the upcoming, Strange Fruit: The Cross as a Way of Life (2011). Founder of Project 127, a ministry dedicated to seeing the day when there are no children waiting for homes in Colorado's foster care system. Robert deeply desires to see the body of Christ mobilized to serve the least of these. The poor, the down and out, the disenfranchised and disabled, those deemed unimportant and the unborn. He believes that God loves all people yet he has a special heart for the poor and the poor in spirit, the miserable and the marginalized. A Contributing Editor for Leadership Journal and Urbanfaith.com. He acquired a B.A. in Bibilcal Studies from Colorado Christian University and a Master of Arts in World Christianity (Missiology) from Denver Seminary. Robert is married to the love of his life, Barbara, and they have six energetic children (3 boys & 3 girls--one bio, five adopted--two from Ethiopia). Friend of God...Passionate about the Body of Christ...Lover of this thing called jazz! Please visit Jazztheologian.com for contact info., speaking schedule, videos, Facebook and Twitter.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jazztheologian\/author\/rgelinas"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jazztheologian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jazztheologian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jazztheologian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jazztheologian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/79"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jazztheologian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=243"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jazztheologian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jazztheologian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jazztheologian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=243"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jazztheologian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}